The Origin of the Milky Way  1575

by Tintoretto

The probable source for the subject was a Byzantine botanical text-book, 'Geoponica', in which it is related how Jupiter, wishing to immortalise the infant Hercules (whose mother was the mortal Alcmene), held him to the breasts of the sleeping Juno. The milk which spurted upwards formed the Milky Way, while some fell downwards giving rise to lilies. [br] Lilies were once...
Size: 
149.4 x 168 cm
Medium: 
Oil on canvas
Credit: 
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons